Building an ORCA

Hi,

I am currently building an ORCA and having some difficulties, I am using the Information available on the Wiki. Unfortunately this information is not complete and sometimes incorrect or can be interpreted in several ways. (it is of course an experimental build)
As I have not yet seen an orca (except on youtube) it is not always simple.
Are there any other people building an orca who are willing to share their experiences with me?
I am living in Belgium Hasselt near the Dutch border.

Regards,

Chris van Aalst

There is this pdf of technical drawings (26M: [www.mendel-parts.com]
Also look in the mendel-parts forums, some people have posted pictures and there is a good amount of advice, eg [www.mendel-parts.com] and [www.mendel-parts.com]
PM other members on that forum for specific help - not me though, I've only got a V9 hot end, not a whole Orca.

Thx,

I had already downloaded the pdf, but for some reason I've missed the forum on mendels-part.com.

thx,


Chris

What about the orca v0.30?

Hello,

I got a reasonable quote from a laser service bureau for cutting all of the Orca parts out of acrylic. I just want to make sure that this will be sturdy enough.

Machines made from Acrylic have a reputation for breaking. It is fine as a sheet material but not good for making brackets, etc, as it is very easy to break during construction by over tightening fasteners and develops stress fractures during use.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2011 09:47AM by nophead.

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[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

nophead Wrote:
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> Machines made from Acrylic have a reputation for
> breaking. It is fine as a sheet material but not
> good for making brackets, etc, as it is very easy
> to break during construction by over tightening
> fasteners and develops stress fractures during
> use.

A little OT, but I also got a quote from the same place for the outer chassis of an Ultimaker in 6mm acrylic. I could dispense with the T-slots and little drill holes and just chemically weld everything with acrylic bonding. (Maybe combined with some judiciously built alignment jigs.) This would get rid of everything with the potential for stress fractures, except for the larger pressfit holes for bearings and the motor mounts. For the motor mounts, we could leave larger square holes and epoxy a RepRapped mounting plate instead. Does that sound good, or should I just find a local bureau to handle birch plywood.

How about ABS sheet in 3mm, 4.5mm, and 6mm instead of aluminum. (I would have some 4.5mm thick parts instead of 4mm)